KI SAWYER, Mich. (WZMQ) – More than three decades after K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base closed its gates, Marquette County leaders are exploring the possibility of expanding military activity at the former base.
In 1955, the US government built a new state-of-the-art, Cold War Air Force Base just north of Gwin. At its peak, more than 7000 people called it home, and now county officials are talking about bringing the military back to Sawyer.
“The presentation, the resolution is just more or less to get the public buy-in and the county board authority, so that we can not just wait for the military, but we can actually pursue them and say, hey, we have these assets at the airport available for use by the military,” said Marquette County Administrator Duane Duray.
At last Tuesday’s Marquette County Commission meeting, the county board unanimously approved a resolution to begin discussions with Department of Defense officials about future uses for Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport.
“If they don’t spend the money in Marquette County, they’re going to spend it in another county or somewhere in this country, or maybe even abroad. Why would we not want to engage with the military and be the beneficiaries?” said Duray.
Supporters say the site remains a valuable regional asset and could continue to serve both civilian aviation and defense-related operations.
It would be a tremendous boost to the area, breathing life into that airport, both on a regional airport side for the public, as well as from a DOD perspective, I think, would just be a home run,” said Republican Michigan State House Representative Dave Prestin of Cedar River.
For now. County leaders say this is only the first step in what could become a much bigger conversation in the future
